Our commitment to ethical journalism

Last week, The Poly posted its Code of Ethics online for public viewing. It can be found at poly.rpi.edu/ethics.

In it, we outline some of the general standards that we hold ourselves to while representing the newspaper. This includes, but is not limited to, dealing with conflicts of interest when members of The Poly are involved in organizations that The Poly is covering, handling intimate details of a person’s life, and keeping stories confidential until they are published.

Each semester, The Poly Editorial Board votes to approve a code of ethics as part of our commitment to professionalism and honesty. The approved Code is not exhaustive, as we can’t predict all situations that we might find ourselves in. However, we expect all members of The Poly to hold themselves not only to the letter of the Code, but also to its spirit.

We believe that all news organizations should be held accountable for upholding their standards of responsible journalism. We chose to publish our standards online so that the community can hold us accountable for all that we do.

The Poly’s reputation is based on its ability to objectively report on campus news. We seek to understand the multiple sides of each issue we cover and ensure that we do not exclude any given viewpoint. Our purpose, as stated in our constitution, is to keep the members of the Rensselaer community informed of all pertinent events, to lead student opinion, and to provide other material for reader enjoyment. The best way for us to do this is to earn the community’s trust with each article that we publish. Although we may not always be the first to break news, we take time to ensure that we can gather the facts so that we can stand behind every word we write.

We are always looking to improve our work. Your feedback is crucial to this, and we encourage you to share your thoughts with us. Additionally, if you believe that The Poly or a member of The Poly is operating in a way that doesn’t represent responsible journalism, please email us at poly@rpi.edu.